Wilmslow - think this got lost in an earlier thread

[stillwaddler]

Wilm-Slow part 1

The weather on Saturday before the Wilm-Slow had me dashing to re-proof my running jacket, it looked certain that the race would be a washout. Not only did I have to get up an hour earlier, courtesy of the start of BST but I would most likely be wind buffeted and drowned along the way. Why exactly was I doing this? Deciding what to wear was a nightmare, I laid out a long sleeved thermal top and my London A-Z running vest and a long sleeved running top, leggings, twin skinned socks and the newly proofed jacket. I pinned my number to the vest as that, together with the leggings and the socks were the only items I was definitely going to use, the possible permutations for the rest of the stuff would be very much weather dependant.

Sleep was fitful Saturday night, I was worried about sleeping through the alarm and worried about the race in general, although I planned to keep this strictly as a training run, I wasn’t even sure that I would make the distance not having run 13 miles in a very long time. When the alarm did eventually go off I reluctantly peeled myself from the warm duvet nest and stumbled downstairs to put the kettle on. Two mugs of tea and two slices of toast later I was starting to feel a little more human and also noticed that far from the promised tempest the weather was gorgeous, bright sunshine, but with a cool stiffish breeze. Decided on wearing the light weight long sleeved running top under the A-Z vest, with the addition of the jacket which is very light weight but does have the advantage of pockets - useful for stashing jelly babies- and I could sling round my waist should I begin to glow a bit towards the end. Added my Hilly waist belt to store car keys, lucozade sport pouch, couple of gels, lipsalve, cuddly toy etc.

I had planned to park at the Rugby club as per the pre-race instructions, but because of Saturday’s foul weather they were unable to use the pitch for parking so I was directed by some rather officious marshals on to a side road in the middle of nowhere. Had to ask directions to get to the start area. I’d left plenty of time for loo queuing, lace tightening etc, so there was time to do a reccie and make sure I would be able to find my way back to the car afterwards.

[stillwaddler]

Felt progressively more nervous as the minutes before the start clicked by. Queued for the loo and then joined the back of the queue to queue again! I have to confess, (and I’m only doing so now in case any of you have the same problem) that one of the reasons I have curtailed the miles is that for the past 12 months or so I have been suffering from the rather indelicately labelled Runners Trots when I have attempted any real mileage. No amount of Immodium solved the problem so I have been forced to find routes with strategically placed loos, or circle around my home patch, all pretty limiting. Wilmslow is a completely rural course and there are no loos accept those at the start and one portapotti at the finish, foliage and tree cover isn’t anywhere advanced enough at this time of the year to preserve modesty and spare my blushes. At the beginning of last week I did some research on the Runners World Forums and found the name a prescription drug that might just do the trick, arranged an appointment at the docs and managed to convince her that Lomotil was what I needed. Tried it out on a run on Wednesday and it seemed to work so I downed the wonder drug with a slug of Lucozade and crossed my fingers.

We were called to the start, I lined up at the back alongside a speaker belting out “Keep on Running” corny or what!!! So very nervous at this point. Starting hooter was duly hooted and after a while we began to shuffle forwards. It seems incredible that a half marathon of this stature and which charges over 20squid entry fee doesn’t have chip timing, it took me over three minutes to cross the start line at which point I tripped my stop watch and tried to start my Garmin, nope, it wasn’t having any of it, damn thing has been playing up a lot and today it sort of gave me a pace but didn’t record any mileage or time. Useless, I wonder if I can get it repaired?

Nice girl came and chatted to me at the start and we ran for the first couple of miles together before she dropped back a bit. I like these random sort of conversations struck up between race companions, I was to enjoy quite a few during the course of the race.

Mr SW advised me to run steady at the start and not go off too quickly, bless him he still thinks I might be able to do anything other than run steadily :-) I concentrated on trying to get in to some sort of rhythm maintaining the sort of pace that wouldn’t aggravate my back or hip. A bit of gentle banter with the spectators who had come to stand at the end of their driveways and politely cheer us on helped the time pass.

One of the best things about running in a race for me is being able to run in the middle of the road, running on pavements is such a chore with having to be careful at every curb and stop for traffic etc. it seems much easier to maintain a rhythm and get into some sort of cadence.

The weather was lovely, just a slight sharpness to the temperature with wonderfully welcome sunshine. What a way to welcome British Summer Time. The first water station was at the 3.5 mile mark so I slowed to a walk to grab a plastic cup of water, unfortunately I missed out on the sponges. I slurped a little, not really because I needed any, but because I thought I should, this reduced me to a walk for a little while because I have never been successful in drinking from a plastic cup whilst running, I only every manage to slosh it around and soak myself and anyone unfortunate to be near me at the time.

The next few miles passed without incident, I admired the view, chatted to a few more people and just enjoyed running in the sunshine. Then the Woman in White appeared on the scene – picture it, brilliant white three quarter length aerobic trousers, skin tight white vest, orange complexion, full headphones. I overtook her, only to have her speed up and pass me, but slowed to a walk as soon as she had done so. We see-sawed in this fashion for a mile or so and then the Girl form the Start caught me up again. “Is that woman in white annoying you as much as she is me” was her first comment!!! We both decided to press on a bit to avoid her, but low and behold she came puffing past us again and then promptly walked once more, trouble is, and probably because of the headphones, she seemed to be oblivious to what was going on behind her and kept moving from side to side which made getting past her quite difficult. My companion muttered that she was just about ready to “punch her lights out”. On the pre race blurb issued with the race numbers it did state that “MP3 players and other ‘gizmos’ are banned”. I don’t choose to race with one, but I can appreciate that other people like to. Has any one else come across a race where they have been banned?

The Girl from the Start carried on while I walked for long enough to slurp a gel and had a few sips of water at the next water station and I never did manage to quite catch her up. Interestingly she was telling me that she has suffered form Diabetes since she was three and seemed quite chuffed when I told her I was running for JDRF, wish I had asked for her name, she’s running London this year, I’m sure she’ll get on just fine.

Mile 9 came along and I was beginning to feel things a bit, but I carried on running steadily, trying to get my breathing regulated. The gel and the Jelly Babies kicked in and I felt fine until the last mile when I just got the urge to walk up the few hills remaining on the course (it’s advertised as a flat course, but it isn’t really!) At least by this time, I had seen off the Woman in White, in fact I even gave her a jelly baby as I sailed past :-) I was really worried about an elderly gentleman whom I administered a jelly baby to, his breathing sounded really awful, each footfall was accompanied by a sort of groaning sound. I reined in quite a few people over the last mile and a half, switching to smug mode when I recognised a few that had shot past me in the early stages. By now the day had warmed up a lot and quite a few people who had collapsed were keeping the ambulance busy.

The finish post was an extremely welcome sight, I had my jacket tied round my waist by now so came in to the finishing funnel with the tannoy sounding “Come on London A-Z!!” which I suppose must have been me.

Forgot to switch my watch off until I had got beyond the funnel system and had collected goody bag and trophy, but watch switched off at 2hours 26 minutes and 4 seconds. Gun time was recorded as 2 hours 29 minutes and 6 seconds. Not what you would call a blistering pace by anyone’s standards, but I got round, my back/hip doesn’t feel any worse and best of all I didn’t need the loo – yeh!!!!!!

Trophy is interesting, its a crystal paper weight with a hologram of two runners and the race title and date, makes a change from a medal and might make a useful missile at work ;-)

Had a blissful leg massage after the event for a modest contribution to charity, the physio that I use had set up 10 massage tables and added to his staff with physio students. On Monday I attended the said physio who diagnosed Piriformis syndrome rather than sciatica, treatment is similar and they have given me lots of exercises to do too, so will hopefully have the old chassis patched up soon.


Well it's a few more squid for JDRF, thank you to everyone who donated, and there are one or two of you who i couldn't contact personally to thank you as I don't have your email addresses, but I really am grateful, if I hadn't been running for JDRF I doubt if I would have made it to the start of the race, so thank you JDRF. Incidentlaly, they had sent me a pingu running vest to run in, but it seems to have got lost in the post - shame, because a penguin vest seems to be exactly what a waddler should wear

[Sweder]

You're right, this did get lost (sadly like your Pingu vest) - only just caught up with it now. How fabulous to cruise past the Woman in White! And as for trying to drink out of plastic cups whilst running . . . what's all that about? I can't do it either - always spill most of it down my front. TOM use thin, sealed water bags - you nibble the corner and squirt the water in - simple, brilliant!

Well done SW and on behalf of Phoebe and all the kids with diabetes thanks for running for such a good cause. You're a star and may I say a rather modest one - reading of your pre-race trepidation I was worried you'd get round, never mind cruise it in style. Nice one

[El Gordo]

I'll second that -- well done SW, and thanks for the detailed race report. The Woman in White sounds very Wilmslow, and I'd have expected a few more like her.

I feel strongly about the iPod-in-races question, and have contributed to a couple of very long and acrimonious RW threads on the subject. For me they're indispensable in training (ho ho), but have no place in races. Or at least, not in the crowded mass-participation events. I have to steer clear of the headphonies as they tend to veer across my path without realising it. And on those rare occasions when I try to overtake someone, they are quite oblivious, and don't get out of the way. Grrr.

Sorry to hear about the Garmin troubles. I have had one or two problems at the start of races which I've put down to interference of some kind. They've usually resolved themselves after a while, though that isn't much use in a race when you need to keep track of time and distance pretty exactly from the start.

But anyway, well done again for getting round.

[suzieq]

Well done SW!

Sounds like you ran a good race and even felt ok after the race!

I wanted to ask you about Lomotil. I too have a problem with running 13 miles without a break. We plan our long runs to always go past some public washrooms. I have two half marathons coming up in the next couple of weeks and I'm feeling a little nervous about them. Does the Lomotil just stop everything for a bit?

Suzie

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Yes well done again sw! Great race report too - iPod banning is becoming more common in this part of the world. I agree with Andy, they're fine in training (with care) but have no place in races. Bloody nuisance when people can't hear what's coming up behind them and move in front of overtaking runners. It's a pity I guess - I love motivational music as much as anyone on a run, but it's downright scary not being able to hear what's going on behind you. Ban 'em!

[Sweder]

Yep, fully agree on the iplod/ headphonies issue - no place for 'em in races, though they are an essential part of my training. I'd have even less motivation to hit the hills if I didn't have the incomprable Mr Cooper for company

Quite apart from the hazzard to others caused by personal race oblivion I don't see how a runner can truly experience a big race atmosphere with that kind of audio distraction. For supporters they're even more infuriating. We had 130 runners in the FLM, at least twenty had earphones and none of those saw our support station or acknowledged our furious cheering, whistle-blowing and airhorn blasting (my personal weapon of choice!). Darned shame; they missed a treat

[stillwaddler]

El Gordo - yes there were quite a few wags and ladies who luch characters along the way, but hey what do you expect in Wilmslow:-)

MLCM, I think I'd ban the headphones too, there were also a couple of people having conversations on their mobiles - what's all that about?

Sweder - it was pleasure to run for JDRF, like I said before if I hadn't I probably wouldn't have even got to the start line.

Suzuiq - Yes Lomotil stops everything for a bit:-) But doesn't leave you with the opposite problem if you get my drift...I took the recommended initial 4 tablet dose - they are very small tablets - and didn't suffer any cramps or any uncomfortable feelings of any sort. It was just brilliant to have one less thing to worry about, I will be going back for a repeat prescription. Funnily enough my doctor hadn't ever prescribed them before and had to look them up in Mimms when I specifically requested them.

Garmin news...I bit the bullet and posted it back to the service centre last Monday, bit reluctant because the standard service charge is 40 squid, but a "newly refurbished" model was delivered to me yesterday - brilliantly quick and it looks brand new to me, so I'm not complaining. I have set it up and plan to have toddle out with it this evening.

Only a couple of runs completed in the last week as we were away last weekend. I am going to try and increase my speed a bit for a change over the next week or two.